Meet Emma DeRoche
Interior designer Emma DeRoche on delegating, designing, and patisseries.
Parisian interior designer Emma DeRoche now calls West Hollywood home, but her cosmopolitan style is informed by her global upbringing and travel. Since starting up her eponymous design studio, De Roche has grown her practice exponentially, going from $2500 to $2M commissions in under three years. With big plans on the horizon, DeRoche is starting to be recognized for her timeless style and playful aesthetic. Emboldened by pattern, inspired by color, her work cannot quite be categorized. Oh, and she’s also an amateur pâtissière. That means she makes amazing works of tarte.
What's your origin story? How did you start working independently?
I’m a positivity-driven, high-fashion connaisseur, classic-meets-futuristic appreciator, detail-oriented French interior designer. I was born in Paris from parents who are from the West Indies and I travel extensively so I have a multicultural background that has emboldened my aesthetic. That, and I am amateur patissiere. I’m now located in West Hollywood, CA and have residential and commercial projects all over Los Angeles, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Rancho Palos Verdes... as well as nationwide. I’m so very deeply passionate about what I do.
How did you start working independently?
It started pretty organically when I decided to go back to work when I realized my younger child was ready to start kindergarten. I had a photoshoot of my own home, and the photographer showed the pictures to a friend of hers who then hired me for my first job in LA. It was the tiniest job ever in terms of budget but was the beginning of this incredible adventure that grew exponentially ever since.
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages to running your own practice?
Definitely at the beginning the disadvantages are that you wear sooooo many hats not related to design itself. Accounting being a big one and I can say I made my share of mistakes. As I grew, I started to outsourced these tasks for which I realized I’m not paid to do by my clients to other professionals who execute much better than I could! Running your own practice can also be tricky in terms of hours spent working. Because the line between passion and work is often a very blurry one. Personally, my brain never stops whether I’m in bed or driving. So even though we have the freedom of not being restricted like a 9-5, I find myself working much beyond that, which I fully enjoy, but it might not be for everyone. A big advantage for me is to own my schedule, my tasks, my mistakes... all is on you, you’re the Boss, with the good and the bad and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Tell me about your work space. Did you design your own home? Do you have a dedicated work space? How do you handle all those samples and creating a design library?
I always designed my home, ever since I was a teenager when I first had my own room (I have a little sister). Back then I chose and installed the wallpaper by myself, hard wired light fixtures, spackled an accent wall and put together my furniture. Today is no different, except that my designs are... more elaborate. I need to live in an environment that tells a story aesthetically speaking, and where I enjoy the visual at every corner. I absolutely love my desk. It was originally an 8-person dining table so we have a lot of room for notebooks, samples, architectural plans at any time we’re working on a particular project. It’s great for visualization. Because I do a lot of remodeling and not just furnishing, I use a variety of storage solutions depending on the samples types. I dream of a way to make this uniform, but keeping fabric samples just isn’t the same as keeping various sizes of tiles or wood samples or wallpaper. So my library is divided by type of samples and mostly consists of see-through bins of different sizes and shapes. Besides these, I do love keeping the selected samples for current projects separated and organized in trays per room per clients.
What's your favorite aspect of your work space?
What I love the most is that very large window that faces my desk. I can take mental breaks just by lifting my head and watching birds flying down my back patio.
What does your day look like? Any daily rituals?
I usually wake up around 6am, drop my kids to school and am back by 8am. I then start my work day with reviewing my emails and text messages, and most importantly my schedule for the day and goals for the week. I do block scheduling during the week so many days aren’t the same. Usually Mondays and Wednesdays are Office days, Tuesdays and Thursdays are meeting days and Friday is a more relaxed day, though I don’t force these either and stay flexible when needed.
Are there any apps you can't live without?
Did I mention how I love good food? I would say Yelp because I love to look for the next restaurant we’ll be dining at or Pinterest, YouTube or Instagram to get inspired to cook that dish that looks so delish. We’re cooks at home, both parents and kids, and cook from scratch everyday; more than we dine out actually.
What are you working on right now?
I feel blessed to be working on so many amazing projects, but the most notable right now I would say is a commercial project I’ve been working on for a few months. I can’t disclose too many details, but it’s going to be really beautiful. Minimalistic meets Luxury, meets Nature & Spa atmosphere, while being technology driven. J’adore ce projet!
What would be your dream commission?
Oh that last question! I’m going to manifest here. My dream project would be designing a new Hotel. I’ve always been attracted to hospitality and restaurant designs. There’s a creativity process that is like no other there because the Wow factor is typically what drives the design. I would love to design a boutique hotel.
